The New Baby
by LimeWater
Summary: KennedyWillow pairing:Sequel to The New Apartment


Tears fell from both women's eyes as the tiny bundle was placed in the redhead's hands, the brunette sat on the edge of the bed and put her arm around Will, gently moving the blanket out of her way of viewing her beautiful daughter. "She's gorgeous, just like her mother." Kennedy kissed Willow on the cheek.

Life was never going to be the same again; Kennedy knew this as she sat rocking the small child to sleep while Will slept, but she also knew, that right now, she didn't want it to be. The slayer smiled at the tan of the baby girl's skin, and smiled even more upon seeing the thick mop of dark brown hair on top of its head.

Kennedy must have dozed off, but when the bundle sneezed in its sleep she jolted awake, ready to kill whoever was attacking her family. Realising it was just a sneeze, she grinned and sighed, she touched the child's hands and the fingers closed around one of hers, she couldn't stop smiling as the tiny eyelids opened to reveal a set of green eyes, just like Willow's.

The redhead, having awoken at the sneeze too, saw Kennedy looking at the baby holding her finger so tight and she felt her insides glow with happiness, "What should we call her?" Willow said quietly, but Kennedy heard.

"We will have to think long and hard about it." Kennedy said in thought, "She's special, and she needs a special name, but it's gonna be tough."

"Research?" Willow looked ecstatic at finally having something to delve her skills into. Kennedy just smiled, and nodded.

Surrounded by various name books Kennedy felt baffled, they still hadn't found a name and 'baby girl' was three days old. Willow sat up in the hospital bed, tapping away at various websites, and Kennedy was perched on the end of the bed with books scattered around the room. 'baby girl' was sleeping, Kennedy couldn't help but think that 20 hours of sleep was just a little too much, but after extra 'home research' discovered that the more sleep a baby gets in the first 8 weeks, the smarter it will be. 'Gonna be another Willow' the slayer smiled to herself before Willow whispers, "I found one."

Kennedy peered over at the screen, the name flashed up before her 'Kali'. Kennedy looked at Willow, and then back to the name, "It means energy and dark goddess." The redhead said proudly, having found the first name in three days that came remotely close to anything. Kennedy nodded in thought, "What you reckon 'baby girl' Kali sound good to you."

The small bundle wriggled a bit and smiled in her sleep, "Yeah, I like it too." The slayer smiled, "Kali Prescott." And with that she kissed Willow chastely and finally made her way to register the birth of her daughter.

Dawn and Buffy brought baby Elita to visit. The little girl was everything to the sullen teen, and she showed it over and over. Buffy felt guilty ever time she looked the small child in the eye and remembered wanting to kill it before she even knew if it was demonic.

So far, every test that Giles had done had showed that Elita was pretty much human, with a few mutated cells. The mutations however would be helpful, she had extra fast reflex's and skin that was softer than most but tougher than any other. Dawn carried the child in her arms and they both beamed as they walked into the ward to find Willow holding a sleeping baby and Kennedy asleep leaning on her shoulder.

"We would have come earlier but Faith-" Buffy stopped, thinking about all the things that Faith had put her and Kennedy through and sighed, "we got distracted." Was all the blonde slayer could manage. Willow appreciated the slayer stopping and correcting herself, but none of it seemed to matter much to her any more. She grinned from ear to ear as she announced to the standing two, "We named her Kali."

Kennedy was nudged awake a short time after Willow had said all there was to say about their newborn child in an hour and a half's worth of Willow-babble. Dawn sat bouncing Elita on her knee and singing while the blonde slayer held and stared into the piercing emerald eyes she had only ever seen on one other person, the one that was sat across from her, grinning.

"Well what are you two going to do now?" Buffy inquired, thinking of how much Dawn's life had changed since Elita was born.

"And what do you mean by that?" The redhead wasn't quite sure.

"Well, Kenn? You're gonna want some leave time, and Giles is going to lose a potential watcher right?" She was being rather cold, despite the warmth radiating from the bundle in her arms.

"I'll be at training first thing on Monday morning B, you can count on it." Was all Kennedy could say, surprising both her wife and the slayer.

"A-a-and you don't get rid of me so easy either; I'm a researcher, not a watcher Buff, so laptops and baby-seats ahoy whenever you need my help." The redhead smiled at her long-time friend.

"Well I'm glad to hear it." She nodded.

"We should get going; El will want to be going to sleep soon." Dawn smiled at the two. Final congratulations were given to the two new mothers as the sister's exited with El.

5 years and 8 months on.

"K? Are you ready?" Willow shouted up the stairs, car keys dangling from her finger.

"Almost" came a unison reply as one, three foot, and a considerably taller figure both raced each other down the stairs laughing. Willow grimaced at what both sets of figures were wearing.

"Kenn, it's parents night, I forbid you to wear that hideous grey tee shirt and ripped jeans." The redhead stood in a long skirt and button up shirt. "And you, Kal, babes, please." She looked the small child up and down, taking in every aspect of the spider-man suit that covered her daughter.

Both ran back up the stairs and Willow could hear the scraping of coat hangers before both girls emerged wearing pressed jeans and polo shirts. Willow sighed, knowing that if she argued much longer that they would miss their appointment.

The car pulled up at Sunnydale Infant's and all three stepped out looking around, it was dark, and all three knew what lurked in the dark. Kennedy had insisted on testing Kali's power the night before her third birthday, and so had taken the child, without Willow's knowledge into the basement of their dream house, and set her a bunch of different tasks. Unbeknown to Kennedy at this time, Kali had also been tested for the magicks by Willow, and the small girl was happy to announce to her mum (Kenn) that she could 'move a chair through the air into another room, so why did she have to move the heavy objects with her hands?'

The slayer smiled remembering this day, though not so much the guilt that followed, that night Kali had had a series of slayer dreams, which had plagued Kennedy for years, and she thought the training had brought them on. But it turned out that it was the third birthday that had caused them, and Kennedy smiled even more recollecting her relief that she had not been the one to cause her daughter to dream such terrible things.

They stepped through the double doors and Kali showed them where to sit and wait until the surname was called, and then off she went towards a group of children sat playing in the corner of the room. Willow looked like she might faint, but Kennedy squeezed her hand tight, "It'll be fine." Kennedy said, not so sure herself.

They had learned so much about parenting in the past five years that the slayer couldn't believe she had come so far. And as an old man poked his head out of the door and drawled 'Prescott' she jumped back out of her reliving past. She held the witch's hand as they entered the classroom and sat across from where the old man had seated himself. Kennedy shook his hand, and Willow just smiled.

"Okay then, I'm Mr. Board, and you must be?" He looked a little confused at the sight before him.

"I'm Kennedy, this is my wife Willow, and we're Kali's parents." Kennedy smiled; she always loved telling the older generation, they took it so well, not.

"I bet you are" he coughed slightly, and Willow shook her head, her mission in life to be accepted was not exactly good at working with Kennedy being so bold, "So, I suppose you have figured out that she is incredibly smart, despite the stunt of her home life." He said and Kennedy felt like throwing him across the room. Willow looked like she might cry.

"Yeah we know she's a smart kid," She said through gritted teeth, "Just like her mamma over here." She turned and smiled at the redhead, who blushed slightly.

Mr. Board was obviously taken aback, "Well, she has finished our entire curriculum for key stage one, so I entered her for the exam."

"But…she's only been here 4 months, how is that possible?" The witch couldn't believe her daughter had completed three years of work in 4 months.

"She could already read, write and do all her times tables and such when she arrived here, so the curriculum was way too easy for her." There was no way of being nasty in saying this; it was obvious to him how much the two women before him cared for Kali, even if he didn't agree with the situation.

Kennedy strutted out of the classroom with her arm around Willow's waist, the witch looking a little pale at hearing just how talented their only child really was. "Wow." Was all she could say.

The slayer bent her knees so she was the same height as Kali, and said "Hey kidda, you fancy some ice cream?" The dark haired child quickly said goodbye and leapt into Kennedy's arms, they went to the ice cream shop, and Kennedy ordered one tub of every flavour they had for her 'special little smart girl'.

They had decided to visit Buffy and Dawn, calling for some champagne on the way there. Both women wanted to celebrate their daughter's success, but upon entering the living room the atmosphere was far from cheerful. "What the hell did you think you were doing?" Dawn paced as El sat in the chair rubbing her tearful eyes.

Buffy was biting her lip as the three entered the house, she gave them a look that warned silence, no one said a word. "I'm sorry mom, I didn't-"

"Don't you DARE tell me you didn't mean to." She cried out as the child began to explain.

"He made me mad." Was all El could say as her mother sat on the wooden floor and put her head in her hands.

Buffy put her arm around Dawn, "Why don't you and K go play upstairs, yeah?" the blonde slayer said softly to the distraught child.

El got up and took K's hand, leading her up the stairs, sniffing every few seconds.

"Dawn, you can't always just blame her you know, it isn't all her fault." Buffy rubbed her little sister's back.

"No." she mumbled miserably, "But they all make out it's my fault."

"What happened?" Willow said simply as Kennedy went into the kitchen to find stiffer drinks than champagne.

"El…Parents Night…Bad…" Willow made out through the teenager's sobbing.

"We went to parent's night, and El has been getting in lots of fights and speaking in a weird language that scares the kids and staff, they're gonna throw her out Will." Buffy looked like she might cry.

"Hey, calm down, it's okay, cause…well…if they do throw her out, which they wont cause Kenn'll go in and kick their tweed covered asses, then I'll home tutor her or something." The redhead said finally.

Dawn looked up, but shook her head, "She's gonna stay in school and be good, or I'm gonna axe her myself." She said, as her voice shook.

Buffy was taken aback, but said nothing, she knew how hard it was for Dawn, a whole year had gone past since the last parent's night, and then the exact same things had been said.

Kennedy re-appeared with a trayful of whisky glasses. Handing one to everyone, she proposed a toast, "To the smartest, and the strongest since Buffy and Willow." She said. Everyone agreed and sipped the bitter beverage.

"So where's F-" Kennedy began but looked over at Willow worriedly.

"Oh for God's sake." Willow sighed, "I don't give a shit about the mention of the girl any more!"

Kennedy stood shocked at Willow swearing, the other two had their mouths open. Buffy snapped back, "She's gone off recruiting new slayers, so I need some extra patrol hours Kenn if you aren't overly family-fied for us slayers now." She said playfully as Willow bent down to give a still-saddened Dawn a hug. Kennedy nodded.

"So don't you miss her?" Willow inquired, "I mean, if Kenn just took off, not only would I be annoyed but I think I'd snap in two."

"I'm okay during the day, just-"

"She has problems sleeping at night." Dawn finished for her sister.

Willow nodded.

The four of them lay sleeping as the two small children crept down the stairs. "Aww." Kali said as she watched her mum and her mamma sleeping, El just headed for the sweet tin that sat on top of the kitchen counter, intending to share and devour the contents of the tin, and then watch movies until the morning light came up.

Willow yawned at the morning light, and when her eyes opened and she realised she had fallen asleep in Buffy's living room, she panicked, Kali had school today! She shoved Kennedy, "K! Get up!" she said straightening her shirt.

Kennedy groaned and shuffled but turned over and continued sleeping. "Five more minutes." She begged, her voice thick with sleep.

"What are you?...Fifteen?...Move!" She started up the stairs to find Kali sat wide eyed on the edge of a bed next to El watching movies, with sweet wrappers scattered everywhere. "Come on, you have school today madam." She said as Kali ran to give her a hug, her dark hair was tousled and her eyes tired but she smiled as she borrowed a pair of dungarees and a pink top from El and made her way downstairs, hand in hand with her mamma.

Kennedy was awake and stood with a slice of white bread in her hand, Willow raised an eyebrow. "Well you weren't gonna give me time to toast it were you." She leaned in and kissed the redhead, Kali giggled, "I'm gonna be late, can't you do that when you drop me off?" She shouted bye to everyone as she walked out of the door.

The car pulled up outside school and Kali ran out and up to a group of girls, all of which looked at the two women in the car funny before starting to look in a puzzled way at Kali and ask her questions that even Kennedy's slayer senses couldn't make out. Willow's blood ran cold, "This is the first time both of us has dropped her off." She said as though it was a bad thing.

Kennedy spent the whole drive home telling Will it would be absolutely fine, times were different now. Willow wasn't so sure, but they didn't have time to think about it as they saw the short figure sat on their front step, surrounded by two small holdalls.

"Emma?" Kennedy inquired as she got out of the car. The blonde girl looked up, and Kennedy stepped back in shock, she had a black eye. "What the hell happened?" She said in the most serious Willow had ever heard come from the slayers mouth. The young girl cried as she told of her father finding her with her girlfriend, he had gone totally crazy, "He said he had already lost one daughter, why was he so cursed as to lose me too?" She sobbed as Willow made herbal tea in the kitchen, her heart bled for both women in the living room.

She walked back into the living room to hear, "You can stay as long as you like, can't she Will?" the slayer looked desperate as she turned to the redhead.

"Of cause." She stated, the house was big enough for around twelve people, what with six bedrooms and four bathrooms. As the witch distributed the tea she remembered Kennedy's first reaction to the taste.

"Oh…my…god." The slayer spat the dark liquid back into the cup. "What the hell is that?" The redhead was taken aback but not put off.

"It's cinnamon and orange tea." She stated as Kennedy tried once again to stomach the taste.

"It smells like bananas." The girl said as she pulled a face but swallowed. Willow almost spat her tea across the room with laughter.

"Just drink it, it has healing powers." The redhead managed through laughter.

"I guess I have tasted worse things." Kennedy shrugged.

"Will? You on this planet?" Kennedy inquired as Willow snapped back to reality.

"Huh? What?" The redhead looked bemused.

"I said what flavour is this, and what does it do? Oh master of knowledge." Kennedy stuck her tongue out at a blushing Willow.

"It's Cayenne infused, for stress and depression." She smiled as Kennedy struggled to keep a straight face.

"It's um…lovely." She said as her eyes shifted from side to side. Emma smiled.

"Well I like it." And she drank the whole mug.

Willow and Emma made dinner while Kennedy trained downstairs, and they all ate together while the two women filled Emma in on everything that had gone on in the practically six years she had missed. "Well her first word was 'Bear', and he's upstairs on her bed right now." The brunette smiled as she remembered the day.

The slayer laid the small child into the cot, and handing her the teddy from the far corner she pulled the cover over the tiny body. The girl had never liked the dark from being born, the only thing that could comfort her was the stuffed bear that Kenn named 'Bear' rather originally.

"Bear." Kali giggled, nuzzling her nose into the stuffed animal. Kennedy froze, "WILL!" she shouted, the redhead came steaming in.

"What on earth?" she panted out of breath from the stairs.

"Say it again" Kenn begged the small girl who was laid hugging the teddy.

"Bear." She giggled in her melodic voice.

Kennedy smiled as she heard the thump of Willow faint behind her.

"And the first time she-" Emma looked expectantly at the redhead who had just stopped herself from saying 'cast a spell'.

"Grazed her knee" Kennedy finished hurriedly.

"Mamma" the little toddler sobbed as she held a muddy hand over her bloody knee.

"Oh dear, what happened?" the redhead smiled her daughters capacity for adventure.

"She slipped, we were playing hopscotch." Kennedy came through the patio doors biting her lip.

Willow carried on smiling as she picked Kali up and placed her on the side, cleaning the cut with a damp cloth and rubbed some Marigold cream on the wound. "Magic potion I got from the fairies at the bottom of the garden." The redhead said as she kissed the small girl's forehead, who jumped down off the kitchen side and ran back outside, calling back, "Come on mum, we gotta find them fairies."

"Good one Will, she's gonna be out there all day." The slayer shook her head with a smile as the redhead looped her arms around her waist and kissed her.

Emma nodded, not convinced. They were still sat at the kitchen table when Willow looked at the clock, paled and leapt out of the door. "Happens most days," the brunette smiled as the blonde nodded again.

Willow picked Kali up from school, but she was quiet. "You okay sweetie?" Her mamma enquired, feeling the sadness radiating from her only child.

"They don't have two mom's, why mamma?" Her green eyes full of unshed tears.

"Kali, we always told you that you were special. You can do things that other kids can't, that's cause you have to mom's." Willow didn't know how to explain to her little baby that in the eyes of most people, her and Kennedy were 'wrong'. Kali cheered a little and nodded.

"Bob to all of them lot anyway, I love both my mom's, they can stick their 'mom and dad' world."

"Kali!" Willow scolded and the girl looked up at her mother, "Never mind." The redhead decided best to leave the girl with her opinion than chastise her for thinking the other kids should 'stick' anything.

Emma and Kali got on well, and Kennedy and Willow were sat on the garden kissing on the bench swing while the two did a jigsaw at the kitchen table. It was chilly, and the late November air bit at their ears, but all they wanted to do was kiss each other. Kennedy pulled back and bit her lip, Willow panicked. "What's the matter baby?" She asked quietly.

Kennedy remained quiet and took hold of the witch's smooth hand, stroking the top of it with her thumb, and looking at the gold band and engagement ring that sat on it. "I was wondering if-" she stopped and looked into the green eyes. Willow stared back into the melted chocolate eyes of her slayer, her girl, "Yes?" she said simply, encouraging the brunette to speak her mind.

"Don't you ever think about having another?" She nodded her head in the way of the house.

"You mean kids?" The redhead enquired, hoping that her wife was not meaning guests. Kennedy nodded.

"You want another?" Willow asked.

"Well…I always loved Emma to bits, and you said you were always lonely as a kid." She announced quietly.

Willow processed the information, before smiling, "Yeah, we should have another." Kennedy's eyes lit up.

"Really?" She looked like a child who had just been granted a wish from one of the fairies at the bottom of the garden. The redhead nodded before she was hugged tightly and kissed by the slayer.

Kennedy awoke to the aroma of bacon, she smiled, but seeing Willow sleeping next to her, and forgetting her sister's presence in the house she thought of her small daughter with a frying pan and flew out of bed and down the stairs to find the blonde girl dancing around to a faint tune on the radio. The slayer breathed out in relief as Willow came up from behind and looped her arms around her. "Why'd you run so fast?" the redhead teased. Kennedy rolled her eyes for Emma to see and shook her head; she turned in her wife's arms and kissed her before heading up the stairs to wake Kali.

They sat eating breakfast, Emma happy to be complemented on her cooking. "I took a cooking prep course after I failed 9th grade." She said, both proud and disappointed. Kennedy nodded, knowing how she would have had it in the neck from her father already; the blonde touched her eye and winced slightly. Willow fixed her a compress with witch-hazel on it.

Kali jumped up the stairs to get dressed, "Clean your teeth!" Kennedy shouted after her, making the other two smile. "I'll take her today, I have to pick up some new gloves, Will, you should rest, you're gonna need it," the brunette winked, "Wanna come spend the day with me Em?" she asked.

"I'll go get ready." And with that she disappeared up the stairs in the same fashion as Kali had only minutes earlier.

Willow saw Kennedy deep in thought and raised an eyebrow. "I was thinking about asking her to stay, I mean she has nowhere else to go, and it's not like we couldn't use a glorified chef and babysitter is it?" Her eyes flashed with lust as the word babysitter left her mouth.

"I was thinking the same thing sat on the bench last night, I mean, maybe we could help her, she seems lost right now." The witch sighed, remembering how lost she had felt after the way her mom had taken her becoming a witch. Never a good memory, one of being tied to a stake.

"Mum, come on, I have early reading today." Kali practically dragged Kenn out of the door.

"Me and Emma will get her from school, have an easy day, relax." Kennedy said hurriedly before blowing the redhead a kiss and being pushed out of the front door.

"Bye mamma, love you." The little girl laughed as she pushed Emma out of the door.

"Bye Will" Emma flashed a grin as Kali shut the door.

As Kali ran out of the car, her long dark hair trailing in the cold air, Emma said "I think I wanna go back to school."

Kennedy nodded and drove, she stopped at the sports store and Emma helped her pick out new gloves. The slayer also took her to the cinema and then dirt biking for fun, Emma felt loved, and Kennedy felt proud to have a sister again.

They picked Kali up, and walked in the house to find the house spotless, not a speck of dust anywhere. Kennedy sighed, so much for Willow's lazy day. "K, go and take a bath, then make a start on your homework sweetie, okay?" The girl gave Kennedy a hug first and then Emma before heading upstairs. "I love being a mum." Kennedy said simply before heading to find Willow.

Emma laughed and went to find a phone.

"Hey baby." She drawled into the receiver.

She gave the anxious girl on the other end the address of the house and hung up the line. Kennedy put the phone down upstairs, smiling, 'one extra seat at tonight's dinner reservation then' she thought as she stroked red hair behind her sleeping wife's ear.

She heard Kali singing from the bathroom next door, she may look a lot like Kennedy with eye's of emerald, but the slayer knew she took after Will in her heart and soul. It made her smile to think of such a beautiful person coming from such a strong love. She beamed down as Will rubbed and opened her eyes, "What time is it?" she said thickly. The brunette laughed, "Get ready, I'm making dinner."

"You mean you're making a reservation, 'cause you have never cooked anything that required skills above a hard boiled egg." Kennedy feigned hurt feelings at the redheads comment but her grin crept through and she took the phone from its stand. "How'd you guess baby." She kissed her chastely on her forehead before heading out into the corridor. "Table for five at seven please." She mumbled into the receiver.

She put some clothes out for Kali to wear on the foot of the bed before knocking lightly on the door, "Sweetie, you have been in there a while, you okay?" she said softly, and the door opened to the little girl finishing tucking the towel in, her hip-length hair dripping wet. The slayer grabbed a towel from inside and took it upon herself to help her daughter dry, brush and plait her hair, and then she left her to get dressed.

She went into her and Will's room to find her wife in a new long skirt and button up shirt, the slayer licked her lips, and moved in. "Your turn to get dressed." The redhead teased as she dodged the predator before her. Kennedy knew this was all part of the plan, and she sighed and changed into a pair of tight black trousers and a deep blue shirt.

The three of them made their way downstairs to Emma stood in the middle of the room, still wearing sweats and a baggy tee-shirt. "Go get ready then." Kennedy nodded towards the stairs she had just descended. Emma looked scared, "Maybe I should stay here for a few more minutes," she glanced at the clock.

"Go." Kennedy nodded harder and Emma jogged up the stairs, her heart pounding at the thought of her girl turning up while she was dressing. Sure enough as soon as Kennedy heard the blonde's bedroom door click shut was there a knock at the door. "I'll get it." Kali said, opening the door to reveal a girl with a rainbow gypsy style hat, green tankini and patched jeans despite the cold. 'So her girl's a hippie' the slayer thought silently before smiling and inviting her in, along with a bunch of bags. "Hi, my name's Tivona." Willow smiled, 'lover of nature' appropriate.

The five of them sat at dinner, the rainbow hat had been left at home, and the hippie, whose hair was actually a deep purple colour, was now wearing an indigo dress. "So you're Em's girlfriend." Kali was the one asking questions, and with her being so small, everyone felt obliged to answer. "That's right" Tivona said, squeezing the blonde's hand and making her blush.

"She gets none of this shyness from me." Kennedy whispered in the redhead's ear.

"I could make you blush if I wanted to." The redhead whispered back, stroking the slayers thigh under the table, Kenn tried so hard to compose herself but mumbled a moan causing attention to be focused her way, and she did go a deep version of scarlet. Willow just smiled and ordered her meal to the waiter who was raising an eyebrow at the blushing woman.

They were eating and Kali was still being persistent with questions. "Are they staying?" She asked the million dollar question, and all three girls waited for an answer. Both women nodded, yes. Tivona, who Kali had given the nickname Tee to 'cause she couldn't pronounce it, saying it sounded like cough mixture, and Em both breathed out before turning to kiss each other, Kennedy coughed rather loudly, reminding them of where they were, and they pulled apart and continued eating after expressing their gratitude.

The meal, and thankfully the interrogation was over. Tivona went into the kitchen to fetch milk and cookies for Kali, Willow grimaced, she always did that. Then Emma insisted on reading her a bedtime story, which made Kennedy sad, she always read to her, in fact Kali always read her to sleep, then nudged her awake when she got bored.

But with both girls and their daughter out of the way, Kennedy turned to Willow and kissed her, with a fire and a passion. "How about that trying for another" she whispered, her hands working fast and the girls, who were going to come back downstairs and watch a movie, heard the commotion, and deciding that they wouldn't have attention paid to their antics, had a race to see who could reach their shared room the fastest. No one could see the water in the bottle on the table start to move to one side as the two women slept, their bodies entwined.

Christmas was Kennedy's favourite time of year, the snow, the lights, the warmth of the family and the fire, since arriving in Sunnydale, somewhat 8 years previous to the date, she had had the only happy and memorable Christmases ever. She bought presents for everyone, and she had spent hours wrapping them, but the present she was most proud of, was the one she had gotten for Will, designed it herself and the thought had taken so long to plan.

She held the box in her hand, just looking at it, before finally placing it in the redhead's stocking that was hung on the fireplace, alongside four others. She smiled at the boxes and bags that were scattered around her, all different colours and begging to be ripped open. She felt the giddiness of a small child, and realising that this was to be her first 'real' Christmas with Emma, that didn't involve Emma's mom (her step-mom) getting trashed, and their father doing paperwork all day, she wanted to make it all the more special.

She drew the curtains, and sighed with happiness as she switched the lights off on the tree, dimming the gas fire and taking one last look around her, before dimming the full light completely and making her way up the stairs to bed.

She awoke to loud yelling in her ear and much nudging and pushing, "Mum! Mamma! Get up…it's Christmas." Kali jumped up and down on the centre of the bed, while the Emma and Tivona stood with their arms around each other, also encouraging the two sleeping beauties to move. "Come on you two, it's morning!"

Granted it was practically dark, but the clock read 10 past 8 and Kali was never going to sleep much more. The slayer and the witch looked at each other and groaned, Willow shifted ever so slightly, much to the disapproval of the foetus she had come to learn was growing inside her. Kennedy rubbed her eyes, feeling ten again, her eyes bright, "Race you." She said and tore off down the stairs followed by the three totally awake members of the family.

Willow smiled and shook her head sighing, then furrowed her brow at the uncanny urge to eat a lemon curd and ketchup sandwich, she put her hand on her belly "You are a weird one." She said with a slight laugh and began to make her way down the stairs.

The happiness lit the room as everyone swapped presents, Willow smiled and rubbed her belly as she ate her sandwich watching them all, feeling like the only one over eighteen. Kennedy was crawling on the floor, joining everyone else in a tickle-fest. The whole place smelled of Christmas, of cinnamon and warmth, there were lights and tinsel and as much cheer as you can possibly cram into one room.

Kennedy ran to answer the door as soon as she heard someone knock, only to be barrelled over by a big bear hug from Dawn, El came in and shot into Kali's arms, and Buffy embraced Willow in a careful, almost 'fragile, handle with care' way. "I wont break you know." The redhead laughed.

"I-I-I get that, but…" the blonde looked at the floor.

"It's okay." Willow said, instead pulling Buffy into a bear hug.

The tickle-fest continued well into the morning, with Buffy and Willow watching in amazement at the stamina of everyone. The present swapping continued until Willow, in a moment of counting, realised that Tivona and Emma had disappeared. She found them in the first place she looked, the kitchen. T was sat at the table, eating mince pies and drinking milk, and Em was basting a turkey, mock pouting as she said, "You COULD help you know."

"But it's so much more enjoyable when I haven't had to work for it." The lilac haired girl pouted back.

"Oh, believe me, you'll have to work for it later…Willow…um…hi" Her eyes looked wide, and then shifted to the side, before hurriedly carrying on with the turkey.

"You didn't honestly believe that me and Kenn bought the whole 'happy just to fall asleep in her arms' stuff you keep feeding us, did you?" the witch shook her head as she saw the look of horror on Emma's face, and the over-exaggerated gulp that came from Tivona.

"Get me a glass of orange juice please T" she sat at one of the stools by the breakfast bar, propping herself up by the elbows. Tiv moved so fast she almost tipped the stool over.

Will sipped her orange juice as she talked to the two rather flushed girls about sex. She heard the banter floating in from the living room and eventually decided to leave the girls to talk their embarrassment through. She got to the door leading into the living room before Kennedy stopped her, holding out her stocking and smiling.

"Someone hasn't opened presents today." Willow smiled at her wife's enthusiasm. Before taking the stocking, the first gift she pulled out was wrapped in gold paper, she read the tag, it was from Buffy, Dawn and El. She opened it to find inside a rather expensive looking, leather bound Tanakh (The Jewish Bible for anyone who is clueless). Kennedy looked puzzled, figuring it must be some form of ancient text, but Willow looked delighted.

"Trust my girl to be overly ecstatic with a book for Christmas." She laughed and kissed Willow's cheek.

"No-Kenn, it's a Tanakh." She sighed.

Kennedy was none the wiser, "So it says." She stated, tapping the cover.

"It's the Jewish bible Kenn." Willow sounded a little exasperated.

Kennedy stopped, 'shit' was all her head screamed, "I'm sorry, I-I didn't know." She looked ashamed and once again reminded herself that no matter what her bank balance read, it couldn't buy her knowledge.

"It's okay." Willow gave her a hug, "This is amazing though" she stroked the cover.

The brunette handed her another present, wrapped in brown paper, 'With Love, Tiv' was scrawled on the paper. Willow opened it to find a copy of the Catalan Atlas (reference to mythology and biblical meanings), the sharp intake of breath from the redhead made Kennedy realise that, however shabby these pages were, they obviously meant something important. "I didn't know she was listening when I told her about it." The witch had tears in her eyes, as she looked at the precision of the maps.

Kennedy was beginning to wonder if anyone had come up with anything but books for her girl, she pulled out a hard jar wrapped messily. She handed it to the redhead who smiled as she read the label 'Mamma' on it. She smiled when she opened it to see the herbs it contained, the jar was labelled 'Special Soothing Tea' in the neat handwriting of the five year old.

There were only two presents left, the one from Emma, which turned out to be perfume and shampoo that smelled of cherries, and the box that Kennedy had been smiling at somewhat twelve hours previous. Willow took the lid from the box and almost dropped it, there inside lay a silver chain, with a pendant in the shape of an angel, its head made of a single bead of Alexandrite, and its body made of Apache Tears, its wings made of curls of silver, small chakra beads were looped onto the curls and glittered in the light. Kennedy reached and took the necklace out of the box, and moving round fastened it around Willow's neck. She then moved back in front of the speechless witch and kissed her lightly.

Willow, still speechless, was brought back by her realisation of not giving Kennedy her present, she gasped and dashed up the stairs, leaving Kennedy wondering what the frilly heck was wrong. The redhead reappeared moments later, with a gift that's shape gave away what it was, Kennedy smiled as she opened it, but what she saw was not what she had been expecting, in her hands lay a stake, but it wasn't just a stake, it was mahogany, perfectly cut and polished, with a gem inset into it, the witch leaned and pointed at the deep green gem, "Epidote, for my slayer." Their loving kiss was interrupted by Kali, who wanted a hug from both her moms.

They sat at dinner, Emma blushing from the compliments she received, and Kali doing her usual 'big family gathering, must ask questions' routine. Everyone except Willow, El, and Kali were tipsy, but Dawn more so than anyone else. El, whose eyes had been recently changing colour from grey to red-ish brown, was being really quiet for a change.

After dinner, everyone sat around the TV, Emma was beginning to get upset, all day she had been waiting for Tiv to give her her present, but she hadn't got one yet. El and Kali were laid next to each other, poking each other simultaneously. Tiv kept biting her lip, wondering when the hell she was going to be able to give Emma her present, Dawn and Buffy were sat in a sisterly hug on one of the couches, while Kennedy and Willow crept silently out of the front door.

"You sure you want to come?" Willow questioned for the third time.

Kennedy sighed, "Yes."

They walked in silence the rest of the way, Willow holding a wreath in her hands as she led her wife to the cemetery. She stopped at the grave and put the wreath down, she didn't notice the tear fall until it hit the ground surrounding the gravestone. Kennedy knelt down and put her arm around her wife. "Didn't want you to be alone on Christmas." Kennedy said quietly.

"Hope you have a drink for me." Willow smiled as she and Kennedy stood back up, they walked arm in arm back to the house, the breeze a little warmer than before.

When they got back, Kali was in the bath, Buffy, Dawn and El had gone, and Emma and Tivona were nowhere to be found. Willow laid on the largest couch and Kennedy went to lay an her, softly resting her head on the witch's stomach, "This is the best Christmas." She sighed before letting her eyes shut.

In the garden, Tivona was trying to reason with Emma. "It's not that I haven't gotten you anything!" she protested at the blonde's accusation.

"Well it seems that way to me." The tears fell free from her eyes at the realisation that her girl had been avoiding the subject all day.

"Look, just sit down." The lilac haired girl coaxed the blonde into the swing before kneeling in front of her and holding her hand.

"I didn't know how to say it in front of everyone, so I was waiting." She finally said as she reached for the box in the pocket of her jeans.

Emma's eyes went wide as her girl proposed to her and she accepted, she kissed the hippie, her hippie and let the girl slide the ring on her hand before they walked back into the house, and snow began to fall.

Kennedy and Willow had tucked Kali in bed, and gone themselves, the house was quiet, all except for the happy whispering of the two loved up girls, discussing how to announce their engagement in the following day.

Kennedy yawned and shifted in her sleep, groaning at the light streaming into her closed lids, she wrapped her arm around Willow and buried her face into the woman's chest to avoid the sunlight. Boxing Day. Willow stroked the slayer's hair, making her smile and look up with sleep filled eyes full of want. The redhead rolled her eyes, "I was being nice, you're just being horny." She giggled as Kennedy ran her hand underneath her nightshirt, tracing patterns with her fingers. The witch rolled her slayer over so she resumed top position, and removed both shirts that were in their way while whispering a sound-proofing spell, she dipped her head low and swirled her tongue around Kennedy's belly button, the slayer closed her eyes and moaned, the redhead moved lower, planting smooth kisses and slight sucks down the remainder of her torso, hitching the plaid bottoms down as she reached them, and raising her eyebrow at the slayer who was free of underwear.

Kennedy shrugged "don't know what happened to those" she managed to use a cocky voice, but it failed her after she had finished by gasping at Willows tongue making contact with her swollen nub. The redhead stroked the slayers hips, gently rubbing up and down, massaging the wet folds with her tongue, feeling the slayers hands in her hair, and her body arching into her she removed one hand from the hip and put two fingers gently inside Kennedy, getting a rhythm she moved her other hand to grip the woman's ass she smiled as she switched to rub the hardened clit with her fingers and put her tongue inside her lover, Kennedy screamed, she had not screamed for a while but she yelled out Willow's name and the redhead felt the hands clamp onto her hair, pushing her head and tongue further inside as the slayer's orgasm ripped through her tensed muscles. She smiled as she felt her lover relax, shaking slightly, and as the hands freed her hair she worked her way back up the slayers body, kissing, licking ad sucking until she reached Kennedy's mouth, where she kissed her passionately before feeling herself becoming turned over.

"I do believe it's your turn." The slayer announced, still slightly breathless. She moved to the redheads bra and undid the clasp that was in her way, she disguarded the bra. The door started to open, she jumped wide eyed, but Willow uttered something under her breath and the door shut again, and the lock pushed in. "Nice." Was all the slayer said before taking one hardened peak into her mouth, rubbing her thumb on the other, rendering the redhead speechless. She could feel Willow was close even without her moving any lower, she loved that about her wife, still a breasts girl even after almost 8 years of knowing her, and 6 of being married to her. She moved away completely and the redhead pouted, Kennedy looked into the eyes that were so familiar to her and smiled, not breaking eye contact as she moved the shorts and panties slowly away from her goal, she thought to try out the belly button trick, just to see.

Willow's head went crazy as Kennedy's tongue ring hit her belly button, swirling inside it and sucking ever so lightly, she moaned and Kennedy realised she was closer than she had thought. She moved lower, slipping the shorts off and out of the sheets,

Update:

Emma and Tiv are married, El got sectioned, Faith came back, Buffy and her are dating again, Dawn's all distraught, Kali has been put in a school for the gifted, but still lives at home, travelling there every day, Willow's still pregnant (name ideas anyone, it's a boy), Kali is not sure about the baby still, and I think that's all you need to know.

Five months later

Kennedy, Emma, Tiv and Kali were trying to be understanding but it was damned hard, Kennedy was used to the 'get out of my face or I'll throw a fireball' Willow, what with the being pregnant last time, but the other three were taking it somewhat badly.

"Shit, shit, shit." The redhead cursed as she threw another shirt out of the wardrobe, this one landing directly on the face of her slayer. "Willow, baby why are you emptying the wardrobe onto the bed?" a smile threatened to appear, but the brunette knew that it was not a good idea.

"Nothing bloody fits." The witch cried out.

"Well I gotta hand it to your I.Q. there Will, you're five months gone, what do you actually expect?" Kennedy shook her head as the redhead continued to relieve the coat hangers of their duties.

"No, no, no." she said, throwing another three tops onto the pile that was forming at her girl's feet. She finally gave in and settled for a soccer tee-shirt, feeling a lot less glamorous than she had been looking for.

"Oooh, sex-ay" Kenn offered, "Come 'ere" she pulled the witch closer and kissed her, laying her head on the redhead's swollen stomach only to be kicked in the head by the bump.

"Think the soccer shirt was appropriate" The brunette joked as Willow finally relaxed and left to get the other three members of the household up, Kennedy started to hang the clothes back up, making a mental note to take her girl shopping as soon as she could.

Willow, as usual couldn't find the three girls sleeping, they were all downstairs, and today they were all washed, dressed and digging into an enormous stack of pancakes. She smiled at the young couple that met her eyes, and her eyes lit up at seeing her wonderful daughter sipping orange juice with her nose in a book.

"What you reading there precious?" she asked ruffling Kali's long dark hair.

"Some text I found hidden in a box under your bed." The girl replied innocently.

Willow smiled and nodded before the words registered and she checked the title of the book, to find a language even she couldn't decipher.

"You can…read this?" the redhead gulped as Kali nodded and took another drink of orange juice.

"It's interesting." She finally stated as Willow stared at her daughter open mouthed.

"You think you could translate for me?" the witch couldn't believe she hadn't asked Kali months ago if she could read it.

"Sure." The girl finished her glass and skipped off into the garden with the text and a notepad and pen.

The text wasn't long and Willow knew that Kali would have it finished before dinner-time if she didn't have school. But eventually she called the girl inside and made her go and brush her teeth for school. Kennedy came down the stairs.

"Does her nose ALWAYS have to be in a book?" the slayer enquired, inheriting some of Willow's earlier crankiness.

The other three laughed and handed Kennedy a plate of pancakes, which didn't take long for her to eat.

The young girl came down the stairs and grabbed her schoolbag, "Muuum, come on!" she yelled, "I don't want to be late."

The car pulled up outside what Kennedy considered to be one of the snobbiest places she had ever seen, 'The Lacy Chain School for Gifted Girls' was the iron sign over the gate, and the girls beyond the sign pulled faces at the car as Kali kissed Kennedy and leapt out of the car.

Kali walked through the gate, and the usual torment began, she didn't really mind it, she knew her family wasn't like theirs, and she knew that she wasn't like them either, but she wished for once that she could use her power to show them they had no right to treat her that way.

The whispers ran through the corridor as she found her locker, since her transfer it was all the students could talk about, "Hey that kids got two moms." Or "She's weird, just look at that necklace." She touched the necklace around her neck, the one her Mamma had given to her, to protect her from black magic, she knew her mamma got out of control sometimes, but she couldn't and wouldn't hurt her. She tucked the necklace inside her school shirt and straightened her tie, before going to sit in her English room before lessons started, continuing her translation of the text for her mamma.

Kennedy was due for patrolling that night, and she wanted to train. She walked into the house to the weirdest smell she had ever come across, wrinkling her nose she followed the origin of the smell, and stood at the cooker was Willow humming quietly. "What on earth are you cooking baby?" the slayer could bet it was another weirdo fetish.

"Chocolate and cheese omelette, want one?" the witch appeared to find nothing wrong with her choice of food, and Kennedy just shook her head before heading for the basement.

Emma and Tiv had decided to hang with Buffy and Dawn for the day and had gone to the pictures and then to a bar. Dawn broke down halfway through her third screwdriver and decided to go and visit El. Buffy left with her and the two girls walked home hand in hand.

Kennedy took Willow shopping after her training session, they bought practically the whole maternity section, "We planning on having kids for the rest of my life Kenn?" the redhead asked jokingly. The slayer just shrugged, the witch paled.

On the drive home Willow confronted her lover. "You weren't serious about me having kids for her rest of our lives were you because I don't think…" she trailed off as Kennedy began to laugh.

"I always dreamed of having five kids." She said after regaining her self control.  
Willow paled again, "Five?"  
"Yeah, but the thing is…I wanna have some." She sighed, knowing that the possibilities were limited.  
"You could have 'em." Willow said eventually, Kennedy looked away from the road to face Will.  
"But I thought…With you being the magic one and all…" she trailed off.  
"You will need a fertility stone, but it is possible, I think it would be safer to do it while I'm pregnant, seeing as I can't get pregnant again." A slight laugh escaped the redhead before she paled slightly more and decided to look up the possibilities.  
"Wow." The slayer smiled at the thought of becoming pregnant, knowing it would be wrong to not think of Kali as her daughter, seeing as biologically and technically she was.

They were in the living room that afternoon when Willow did what she had done the last time she was pregnant, and flashed forward.

'In a white room there was Kennedy holding her hand, and Kali was stood at the window in the swing doors, Buffy stood behind her with her hand on her shoulder. There was a doctor and a nurse bustling about and there was a sheet up so she couldn't see her lower body, Kennedy was biting her lip and crying silently and Willow could hear the machines beeping around her, the doctor lifted something up and the nurse bustled off into one corner of the room with it. Three seconds went by before the sound of a baby's cry filled the room.

Kennedy, whose belly was looking rather swollen was handed a small bundle, "It's a boy." The doctor announced from behind his mask, and then Willow passed out into black.'

Willow jumped back into herself with a jolt, Kennedy looked no worse for the wear, "What'd you see? Will it be okay?" she knew that Willow had seen what would happen, she always did.

"It's a boy." She patted her swollen stomach. "I had a caesarean though, and you must get pregnant cause unless you take up eating several junk food meals a day, you were definitely gonna have a baby." Kennedy wasn't sure to be happy about the boy or her possible pregnancy or scared shitless about her wife having to have a caesarean. She just cried, too overwhelmed to speak, and wrapped her arms around the redhead.

"So do you want to discuss names before this baby is born?" Willow laughed as Kennedy cried on her chest.

"Not now, I want to enjoy this now." She said as she hugged her wife.

Emma and Tiv were on 'pick up Kali' duty so Willow relaxed as Kennedy went to train, realising that soon if she got pregnant she wouldn't be doing too much training, or patrolling. She had no heart for killing anymore, it made her feel dirty and guilty, despite how evil the people she was killing were. She shook the thoughts from her head and tried to focus on target practise and punch bag.

In the end she gave up on her own company and called Buffy and Faith to come help her. They arrived, but they were too loved up to care about beating the living hell out of each other, 'accidentally' legging one another up to land on top of them every five minutes, in the end Kennedy said "I've had it! I don't even feel like a slayer anymore! I'm not a slayer anymore! I'm a wife, and a mother, and a sister and a sister in law and a friend, but I'm not a slayer, and I quit!" She stomped up the stairs and into the living room, to find Willow asleep in front of the TV with a bowl of olives covered in toffee sauce.

Buffy and Faith left almost silently, having been given much to think about, the first thing they intended on doing was calling Giles.

Emma and Tiv took Kali for her dinner and then ice cream. When they returned, the two women were both sleeping in the living room, and Kali went straight to bed without saying a word, she had been quiet all evening and Emma was worried about her, but Tiv had other ideas. She looped her arms around the blonde from the back and licked her ear. "Wanna go upstairs and make out, maybe more?" she grinned at how childish she could still be despite marriage.  
"Sure." Emma said, "Race you."

Kali walked down the dark hallway, her eyes full of sleep and tears, she knocked on the door to Will and Kenn's room before entering to find it still empty. The cool air that hit her face almost froze the fragile tears that stained her cheeks. She walked slowly down the stairs the moonlight hitting the bottom three steps through the glass in the front door. She could make out her mum and her mamma sleeping soundly on the couches. She looked from one to the other, making her mind up, finally going and laying down the side of the brunette, as Willow's swollen bump was taking up the rest of the room on the other couch. She wrapped the slayers strong arm around her and cried a little more, silently, but shaking just enough for Kennedy to wake up.

"Hey," she soothed, stroking the girls hair, her head still filled with sleep, "What's the matter baby girl?"  
"I had a dream that you and mamma didn't want me no more, soon as the baby is ready to breathe you wont want me around no more." She cried, tears rolling down her cheeks.  
"That is not true at all, Kali, me and your mamma love you so much, we just know that we can love another person exactly the same, don't you want someone else to be loved like you? Someone to play with?" The brunette simpered, she knew how she had felt when she had been informed that Emma was going to be born, she hadn't eaten, nor opened her bedroom door for around five days.

The small girl sobbed a little more before finally falling asleep, exhausted, the slayer, soon to be ex-slayer, sighed heavily, wrapping her arms around her daughter and kissing the top of her head, "How could we let you think that?" she whispered to no one before falling into a fitful sleep.

The morning came and the sun shone through the windows, Willow had been up since the start of sunrise, sat in the windowsill watching it come up. Glancing every so often at Kennedy who appeared to be fitting an awful lot more than usual, and also watching her daughter, who she could see had cried herself to sleep, biting her lip, the redhead wondered what on earth was bugging the two of them, and having the urge to eat dry cereal and drink cream soda, went into the kitchen to find neither.

Sighing, she held her hand palm up and pulled the phone using telekinesis, she dialled the intercom and Emma picked up. "'Lo?" she answered.  
"Hiya it's me, I was just wondering if you would nip to the store and pick up some cereal and some cream soda," she put on her whiney voice, "Please?"  
She heard the blonde sigh and could almost see her propping herself up on her elbow and rolling her eyes at Tiv who was grinning at her, "Yeah okay, whatever, I was gonna get up anyway."

Willow put the phone on the counter after hanging up and smiled before going back in the living room and clearing some of the dishes from the night before, she heard the front door open and shut and then heard the padding of tiny feet as her stomach jolted with a kick.

"Morning sweetie, Willow smiled as she patted her bump,  
"Morning mamma" Kali answered, not realising it was not her being spoken to.  
"Hey baby girl, you have a bad dream last night?" the redhead sympathised.  
Kali nodded, "You and mum didn't love me no more because the baby," she pointed to her mamma's swollen stomach, "was born and it was better than me." Her eyes filled with tears again, but she didn't let them fall.

The redhead hugged her dark haired girl and felt the baby kick again, Kali went wide eyed as she pulled away really fast, "What was that?" she asked, her mouth slightly open.  
"That was the baby kicking" Willow smiled.  
"You and mum aren't gonna leave me or give me away when you have this baby are you?" big tearful green eyes stared back at her like they did in the mirror.  
"No, of cause not, we want you, just like we want this baby, we'll love you both the same." She ruffled the girl's hair.  
"Does that mean you'll love me half as much as you do now, but you'll only ever love the new baby half as much as you loved me to start with." The redhead took a few seconds to work it out, her daughter did have a head for calculations.  
"No, it means that we will carry on loving you the same, and our love capacity will double so that we can love the new baby the same, okay?" She smiled as Kali worked this new information out, then she nodded, her face looking a little brighter.

The short slayer-powered girl took a piece of paper out of the pocket in her pyjama shirt and handed it to Willow, "There, that's the translation, don't be too worried, I have it covered." She smiled and went upstairs to get a bath.

The redhead stood in the kitchen and read the translation, her eyes wide in fear,  
'And the key shall spawn a Halfling, and it shall be full of sin, the spawn of witch and slayer shall destroy it from within, writhe in pain and fear it will, slit its neck and drink thy fill, for all who read shall lust the blood, of the red-eyed child and so they should.

The spawn of witch and slayer dark of nature but pure of soul, shall cut the throat and in its own time take it whole, it will be only then that she will gain total power, and she will survive until the final hour, the last person to love her shall die in time with her heartbeat, and the greatest evil will have a front row seat.

If the prophecy is broken, and the other side has won, the Halfling will be human and the witch shall spawn a son, he shall have knowledge of great, but for his powers he will have to wait, his brain will be needed more than his brawn, or there will be more than death to mourn, either way this text is truth, and this shall test the strength of youth.'

She ran into the living room and prodded Kennedy awake, showing her the translation that Kali had made, and the brunette stared at the paper, unable to speak, the two showed Emma and Tiv before going and talking to Kali.

"Don't be so worried, I have been planning for it." The small six year old sounded thirty-odd.  
"Worried? We're your family Kali!" The redhead went to hug her daughter.  
"You are my family, but El can't be a part of it anymore, it is written that I should kill her, and I will."  
"Kali! It was written that the first evil would take over the world and that Buffy would be dead now, none of that had to come true." The redhead knew that Kali was still naive, "You can't believe everything you read."  
Kennedy looked at Willow, had those words just come from her wife's mouth?

The small girl sat on the edge of her bed, her hair dripping wet, dressed in a jumper and jeans, thinking about what her mamma had just said, "So, how do we make this one not come true then?" she was confused, it seemed so simple to just go kill El, but stopping the truth from happening was a whole lot harder. "I don't know, but we will find out."

The others left the room, but Kenn stayed behind, Kali looked at her with those big green eyes and said, "Mum, what do I do, I wanna drink her blood…" the emerald pools filled with tears and they fell as Kennedy took Kali in her arms,  
"Shh, don't worry, your mamma will work it out, everything will be fine, the prophecy will be broken, and the urge will go away." The slayer ran her hands through the damp brunette locks and kissed Kali's head softly.

Eventually the two joined everyone else downstairs for food, cookies, milk and ice cream were on the table when they sat down, Willow was enjoying her ice cream with mint sauce, everyone else was avoiding looking at Willow and concentrating on the stuff in their own bowls so as to avoid nausea.

Tiv and Emma took Kali away after dinner, to the park, while Kennedy and Willow discussed what they were going to do about the prophecy, "We can't let her kill El." Willow was indignant.  
"She thirsts the girls blood Will, we can't ignore that." The slayer was agitated.  
"There is always a way around it, even the prophecy states that it can be altered." The redhead's fire for discussion was coming through.  
"Well, you're gonna have to figure it out soon, cause she's strong willed is Kali and if she thinks that it's better her way, then she will do it her way Will, you know that." The slayer walked from the room and beat ten rounds of stuffing from the punch bag in the basement.

Willow patted her swollen tummy "Ah well, you still love me don't you?" she sighed, studying the text again, wracking her brains for a way around it.

Faith and Buffy came round, and drank tea that burned both their mouths, Kennedy came up from the basement to talk to them, "So Giles says he will bring the correct papers when he comes back from England in four months time." Kennedy almost dropped her mug.  
"Four months, the baby will be here by then!" I'm gonna be…" she trailed off.  
"You're gonna be what?" Buffy was intrigued.  
"Me and Willow's gonna get me pregnant." Kennedy grinned. Faith's mouth dropped open.  
"Squirt, you kidding me!" she let her mouth hang open, "You can't be serious, all those, stretch marks!" she shuddered. Kennedy and Willow rolled their eyes and laughed.  
"We can give you leave," Buffy stated, "But it won't be official until you sign the paper declining that you want to stay a slayer."  
"I haven't been a slayer for six years, but one signature changes it all, I'm no longer called?" She asked hopefully.  
"Unless there is major apocalyptic crisis, you'll be free." Buffy smiled.  
"Free." Kennedy said out loud, as if it made it real.

Kennedy took Willow out to dinner to celebrate, leaving Emma and Tiv to make sure Kali didn't climb out the window and go and kill El. They agreed that she could sleep with them, but first they all got hyped on sugar and watched TV.

"I'm gonna be free, and we're gonna be parents again." Kennedy had only ever been as happy on her first date, the day she had been made a slayer, on her wedding day, and at Kali's birth. They toasted, both euphoric, but both worried about Kali.

"You think she'll be okay?" Will asked, biting her bottom lip.  
"She's strong, we'll get through this." The brunette slung her arm around the witch's shoulders as they walked up the path, only to see Kali trying to climb out of the window, Kennedy caught her as she went to drop to the ground, Willow could smell burning, and as she looked at Kali's chest, the pendant to protect against dark magic was searing into the young girl's skin, "Kenn, get her inside." She put a force field around her daughter to stop her using magic against them, and Kennedy forced her inside, shutting the door behind them.

Kennedy sat and watched her baby write in pain against the evil building up in her tiny body, and Willow wracked her thoughts trying to think of some way to calm her. The thought-wave hit her and she went into the kitchen, "Will…no offence but this isn't the time to be making tea!" Kennedy shouted into the kitchen as she heard the redhead pulling out the herbs.

Willow rolled her eyes and put the herbs onto the strainer, St. Johns Wort, to deplete magickal power, she waited impatiently tapping her foot as the water boiled and she poured it slowly over the leaves to get all the energy, she finished up and poured some cold water into it, making it drinkable.

She carried it into the room and concentrated, watching the necklace still burning into Kali's tanned neck, she forced Kali's hand out of the force field and made it take the glass, pouring the liquid down her throat, she swallowed some, spat some and then began to choke, the force field wavered, and then stopped as Kali's head and body went limp. Kennedy shot Willow a look that screamed 'You killed her!' and Willow began to explain.

"St. John's Wort was thought to have no effect on much at all, but as it turns out, it depletes power, and if strong enough can wipe power totally." Kennedy looked wide eyed at the witch who appeared proud to have taken their daughters power from her.  
"Is…is she gonna wake up?" Kennedy stuttered.  
"She will do, but we will have to keep her drinking the stuff to maintain her at a normal level, until we sort this prophecy out." The slayer nodded as she took it all in. 

Tiv and Emma came running down the stairs looking flustered, "She's gone" Emma shouted at the two women, Kennedy and Willow turned round and shook their heads,  
"She's here, but we have a problem." Willow explained to Tiv what was going on with the magickal power and Kennedy explained that Emma was in charge of making sure she drank the stuff.

It took until morning for Kali to have regained enough energy to wake up, the firs thing she felt was pain, searing burning sensation beneath her necklace and she looked down to see the burned skin on her chest, she began to cry. Kennedy opened her eyes and tried to soothe the girl, "What's the matter darling?" she whispered as the other three slept. The teary green eyes looked wide in fear as she pointed to the burn, and Kennedy went to fetch some ice, a towel and some cream.

Kennedy watched in shock as the ice touched the burn and disintegrated into water instantly, Kali just didn't know what was happening, the slayer tired again, but the same thing happened and Kennedy didn't know what to do, she woke Tiv through shaking her and made her watch.  
"It's a magickal burn stupid." Tiv said as she got some oil from the kitchen cupboard, rubbing it on Kali giggled, "It's cold." She smiled.  
"It's witch hazel" Tiv told her, "It's good for bruises and burns."  
Kennedy felt stupid too, the only thing she was built for was beating things up, killing even, she wasn't made for all this helping and healing stuff, she could control and protect as best she could, but it required no brain power.

Willow and Emma woke up at the sound of Kali giggling and Tiv was busy making more tea for the small girl, Kennedy had 'gone for a walk'. In actual fact she was arriving at Buffy and Faith's flat. She practically hammered the door down before Faith answered the door yawning. "Hey K." she said trying to smooth her hair with her hands while her eyes focused.  
"Is Buffy here?" Kennedy asked, walking past Faith into the living room.  
"No, she uh, went to take Dawn to the hospital, she's fetching pancakes back." The ex-rogue smiled at the thought of pancakes.  
"Good, I need to talk to you." Kennedy sat down and looked at the couch opposite, wishing for Faith to do the same, and she did.  
"'Sup?" She said, yawning again.  
"What do you do when you feel all useless, but too useful in the wrong places?" She knew it sounded really confusing, and from the look on Faith's face it was confusing.  
"I, uh, train and um, patrol 'til it all goes away." She didn't know if it would be helpful and she didn't really care, she wanted pancakes, not twenty questions.

This was such a bad idea, looking to Faith for help in something serious was never a good plan. The ex-rogue looked Kennedy up and down, "You know, Kenn, the years have been good to you." She smiled in her usual 'fuck me' way.  
"Don't." Kennedy said simply, rolling her eyes.  
Faith nodded and then said, "It's probably good if you go."  
Kennedy nodded, and left, leaving Faith to think 'what the hell? Where did that come from?'

The tanned slayer's cell phone rang and when she answered it was Giles, "Ah, Kennedy, I'll be back in Sunnydale in two days time, the council sorted the rota faster than was anticipated. I fly out tomorrow, then I have some business to sort with Angel and I will call in on my way back." Kennedy smiled, that was one good thing to come out of today.  
"Gotcha, thanks Giles." She hung up.

Did she want to give up being a slayer? She stopped, and it began to rain, soaking her shirt as she thought about everything that she would be giving up. Strength, senses, power. She had waited her whole life to be a slayer, the constant hope that she would become her destiny, and now, she wanted to sign it away and lose it all. But the more she thought, the more she came to realise, that to be a slayer was something she wanted when she yearned for acceptance, for the strength to truly understand what she was about, but in meeting Willow, having Kali, making friends and family, she had been accepted, this was what she wanted.

The rain continued to beat down on the empty day lit streets and Kennedy wondered, as she walked up the driveway, what it was she would be going home to, the last thing she expected was what she found.

"I need a grey piece with a purple blob in the corner." The small child said as she looked over the jigsaw pieces scattered on the table, her tanned skin, pale, and her eyes looking sick. Emma and Tiv were helping with the jigsaw and Willow was on the phone.

"Yes Principal Mason, I know that absences cause non-graduates, but if it wasn't such a bad stomach virus she would have been sent to school," the redhead paused to let him speak, "Yes I understand that and she will be back there as soon as she can stop throwing up long enough to speak, have a good day sir." Willow sighed as she hung up, and turned to Kennedy, "That man." Was all she said before taking another bite out of a stick of rhubarb she had in her hand.

"Will, you hate rhubarb; you won't even eat it in pie with custard." Kennedy noticed as Willow continued to munch.  
"I know; it's weird, I just wanted some so badly" She took another bite and started to tap on the keyboard of her laptop as Tiv, Emma and Kali continued their search for the jigsaw piece. Kennedy shrugged, she wasn't needed, "Guess I'll go get myself pregnant then." She muttered, but loud enough for Willow to hear, the redhead stared after Kennedy as she sloped off upstairs, realising that she may feel a little left out the redhead followed, unnoticed, up the stairs after the sulking slayer.

"Feeling left out?" Willow pouted, mimicking Kennedy's mood. The brunette looked up and nodded, still pouting, but only half-serious, "Aww, did I neglect my slayer?" she added, sitting on the bed and tickling Kennedy, who nodded again, but grinned instead of pouting. They kissed, and hands traced their familiar routes across smooth skin, Willow stayed on top, knowing it would work better if Kennedy laid flat, her swollen stomach didn't stop her from unbuttoning the damp shirt that Kennedy was wearing, and removing her bra as well, flicking her thumbs over Kennedy's hardened peaks and seeing her lover arch up in pleasure made her centre beat and she needed to kiss her, running her tongue around the slayers mouth she moaned, "Stay with me." Kennedy breathed.

And Willow did, but she wanted both to be naked, it was a while since they had managed to get all their clothes off. She stripped and slowly stripped Kennedy, who laid unable to move off the bed. The redhead laid by Kennedy's side and the slayer brought her arm up around her. Kennedy thought her head may explode from the pressure, as she watched Willow put her fingers inside herself and then draw them out again.  
"This is how it will work for you, are you ready?" she asked, breathless.  
Kennedy nodded and pulled the redhead into a deep kiss as she felt the fingers enter her and begin to work.

The witch said the chant in her head as she continued the passionate kiss, working her way downwards to Kennedy's neck, leaving a deep purple mark as she pulled away and continued downwards. Grazing her teeth across the taught nipples that met her soft lips Kennedy moaned Willow muttered the soundproofing spell as she remembered the other three downstairs and traced her tongue down to the slayer's belly button, licking slowly and then quickly, her fingers still pumping, Kennedy still stuck in ecstasy. 

The redhead could feel the heat radiating from Kennedy, and she could see the sheen of sweat that covered her body, as she struggled to keep control, "It's only me baby, you can let go." Willow whispered, before letting her tongue make contact with the slayer's sex. Kennedy's head exploded inside, Willow ran her tongue around the swollen nub a few more times, prolonging the pleasure awhile, while Kennedy arched up and moaned loudly. The redhead's hand dripped as she pulled it away, she licked her fingers, one by one for Kennedy to watch, before kissing her deeply.

Kennedy made a move to pay Willow back, but the redhead stopped her, "You need to lay flat, today was for you." She said softly, kissing the purple bruise on her lover's neck grinning, "You may want to get some cover-up for that."

Kali had fallen asleep before they finished the jigsaw, half a glass of tea had seen to that, and Tiv had been researching less exhausting ways of stripping magickal power and also what possible ways they could stop the prophecy, she was probably putting too much pressure on herself, she wasn't expected to do anything, but she felt she owed a lot to this family that had taken her in.

Emma ate popcorn and sat trying to get decent conversation from her wife, who nodded and grunted in return, eventually she gave up, deciding to just watch TV and wait for Kali to wake up, she couldn't do research anyway, it just wasn't her thing.

As soon as Kali started to stir Tiv got up to make more tea, and Emma was going to talk to her, when Willow and Kennedy came down the stairs, "What have you two been-" The blonde began, spying the mark on Kennedy's neck and the ultra-wide grins plastered across both their faces she made and 'o' shape with her mouth and shut up.

Tiv waited for Kali to open her eyes and sit up, before handing her the glass to drink, she looked like she was recovering from the flu, her face drawn, her eyes tired, she looked so small wrapped in a huge, blue blanket on the couch. Kennedy went and sat on the edge of the couch, playing with Kali's hair, the girl wasn't one to miss anything, and moved her hand up to touch her Mum's neck, "Who bit you?" Her eyes went wide, "You didn't get 'bitten' did you?" all sorts of images of her mum being bitten by a vamp running through her mind.  
Kennedy smiled and ruffled her hair, "No sweetie, me and your mamma were messing about, and somebody," The slayer shot Willow a half-serious glare, "took it too far." Then she smiled as she saw the girl's face relax, but Willow burst out laughing, and went to perch next to Kennedy.

"Ooo." Willow said, "Shoot, my scan!"  
Kennedy held her hands up, "I can't do it, I'm on Kali watch while Mrs & Mrs Starbucks over there go to work." She thumbed towards Emma and Tiv.  
"What if…" Willow trailed off.  
Kali looked up, "What if what Mamma?"  
"What if the two of you came with me?" Kennedy shot her a look that said 'no way'.  
"Kenn, it may help her accept it better; I know she's still not happy about it." The redhead stated, as though Kali couldn't hear.  
Kennedy sighed, exaggerating it loudly, "I won't be held responsible for the outcome." She said in a singsong voice, going upstairs to get changed.

Willow saw no need to get changed, but she made Kali get dressed and plaited her hair, she heard Emma and Tiv shout their goodbyes up the staircase, and once ready they all got in the car and set off towards the doctors surgery.

Kali looked like she might throw up when they eventually got inside the waiting room and Willow went to announce her late arrival. "I'm sorry, my kid's been really sick." She said to the receptionist sat filing her nails behind the desk.  
"So you want to see the paediatrician then?" the woman said, not looking up.  
"No I want to see the nurse; I'm here for my scan." Willow rolled her eyes, deciding that if the receptionist had been blonde it would have ruined the effect.  
"Uhuh." The non-blonde replied, tapping keys on the keyboard, "You must be Mrs. Prescott, take a seat please."

Her name was called, and Kennedy, Kali and Willow made their way into the little side room next to the big main office. A fat jolly woman in a white short dress with a clipboard was stood holding the door for them as they entered. "Shouldn't you be at school?" the woman beamed towards Kali.  
"She's been ill so we brought her with us, there was no one else, and I can't drive in this state." Willow informed the jolly woman.  
"Oh, well little one, would you like a lolly?" she asked her, still beaming, Kali looked towards Kennedy, who nodded, and Kali grinned,  
"Yes please." The jolly woman pulled a purple lolly out of her dress pocket and handed it to her.

"Now, I'm Nurse Beadman, but you already know that." She added, recognising the unconventional couple from two months previously. "Up on the bed please Mrs. Prescott."  
Kennedy went to move but realised she was talking to Willow, the only problem with having the same name, she mused, going to sit on the chair in the corner with Kali on her lap.

Willow pulled her shirt up and Nurse Beadman began to rub petroleum jelly and persisted to turn a monitor on and run the receiver over the swollen mound. Kali watched fascinated as shadows formed on the screen and a faint thump-thump, came from the monitor. The small brunette was in awe as the nurse pointed out where the head was, and the tiny arms and legs, she just smiled so much that Willow couldn't help smiling.

Kennedy sat grinning, and even Nurse Beadman smiled wider than she had before, seeing such a wonderful family united in one moment. "Well I think everything should be fine, just need to keep up the good work and keep your feet up, had any problems?" Willow shook her head, aside from the prophecy that if she didn't solve it, her baby would never be born, there wasn't a problem.  
"Do you want to know if it's a boy or a girl?" she added, knowing they may be a little shocked.  
"I do." Kali said, a little too loudly.  
Kennedy and Willow nodded, even though they already knew.  
"It's a little boy." Kali looked wide eyed at the still monitor as the picture printed, "A brother." She said her mouth slightly open.

Kennedy gave Kali the scan print out to keep, and she didn't shut up the entire ride home. "Look at his little arms and legs, he's so cute, don't ya think he's cute Mamma?" Willow smiled as she nodded. Kennedy took one hand off the wheel and put it on Willow's knee.

When they got back inside, Willow made some tea and Kali drank it, wondering why it always made her sleepy, and then fell asleep. Willow sighed, she knew it was hurting her without causing her pain, but she couldn't think of another way. Kennedy had had an idea about how to make it even more special for their first born. "Will, what about if we let her name him." She voiced as she saw Kali had dropped off.  
"I was thinking the same thing actually." The redhead sat on a beanbag and began to continue her research. The one thing that didn't make sense was how Kali had been able to translate the text in the first place, what was it written in?

She looked over the text on the computer, she had scanned it in. it was just shapes, shapes and colours, she had tried random association before Kali had ever read it, and nothing, the symbols were too frequent to stand for the same letter and the colours, no two shades were the same.

Every time she had needed to translate something she had had to use a computer or a dictionary from that language, how was it that her daughter could just read them?

Kennedy looked over Willow's shoulder. "What if she got it wrong Will?" The brunette said biting her lip.   
Willow looked into her lovers brown eyes, "This wouldn't be happening if she had got it wrong baby."  
Kennedy nodded, and sat on the floor beside her, "I wish I could help, but I'm useless."  
Willow had known that the slayer had felt powerless. "You being here helps." She leaned her head to rest on Kennedy's shoulder and sighed in contentment, continuing to tap on the keyboard.

"I sign late tomorrow, and you have to perform said ritual." Kennedy finally said.  
Willow looked at her, "Are you sure you want to do that? You know I can't give you the powers back, right?"  
Kennedy nodded, "I don't want to kill anymore, I want to be a good mother, and hopefully, it will stop bad things befalling my family." She said, trying to convince herself more than Willow, who merely nodded.

It was late when Emma and Tiv got in from work, complaining about standing on their feet for hours for almost no money.  
"I'll need extra help with this little one when it's born, there's only three more months tomorrow." Willow offered.  
"I'll help." Kennedy patted the swollen belly.  
"You'll need help when you start to show." Willow smiled, and Kennedy thought about it,  
"True."  
"Kenn? You're pregnant too?" Emma was exited, Tiv was shocked.  
Kennedy nodded, to be met with two hugs, one from each.

"Everything is changing." Tiv said as the four of them sat up late talking.  
"Well maybe it's a good time for change." Willow said, trying to sound mystical but failing.  
"We've been thinking of going back to school." Emma said, "I know we're nearly twenty-five but, I think we could do good." She squeezed Tiv's hand.  
"Go for it." Kennedy smiled, drinking hot chocolate.  
"Well, we need tuition fees." Emma looked at the floor; she hated asking her sister for money, seeing as her father never gave her any.  
"Done." Kennedy said, Emma looked up,  
"Really?" she grinned.  
"Yep." The slayer smiled.

Kennedy was on Kali-watch, all the others went to bed, she nodded off on the beanbag, and awoke to Kali whimpering in the darkness. She squinted, trying to find the light switch and squinting even more when she found it, Kali was curled in the far corner of the room, her yes wide with terror and her arms hugging her knees inside the big blanket, Kennedy went over to her and she kicked and screamed as she was picked up, placing her back on the couch, Kennedy could feel she was running a fever, she stopped, but was it a 'magickal' fever, she rolled her eyes and sighed, going to fetch Tiv.

"Get up, I need your help." She sighed again.  
Tiv followed her down the stairs, "Just get her one paracetamol." Tiv concluded that it wasn't a magickal fever, as there was no such thing.  
Kali took the pill and in half an hours time she was calm and quiet again.   
"Mum?" Kali asked, "Why am I like this?" she asked, sipping at the tea that Tiv made for her.  
"Um, it's the prophecy; you have to stay here so it doesn't come true until we figure out a way to beat it." Kennedy finally gave in and told her.  
"Mamma wants to know how I could read that text doesn't she?" the small child had heard part of the conversation. Kennedy nodded.  
"When I looked at the different coloured shapes they spoke a word to me, it wasn't like reading where you sound phonics in your head, it was like someone was talking to me, a man, in my head." The girl repeated every word of the prophecy perfectly for Kennedy to hear, and it hit the slayer what she had to do, only Kali could hear it because only Kali was meant to know what it said, because Kali couldn't solve it on her own, it had to be her and Willow, of cause, she kissed Kali swiftly on the forehead and went into the kitchen, taking half their stock of St. John's Wort and waking Willow, getting her to jump in the car, telling Tiv to hold the fort with Kali until they returned.

Willow, now fully awake, was sat staring at Kennedy totally bewildered, the woman was doing well over the speed limit, "Kenn what the hell are you doing? You're gonna kill us!" Kennedy gripped the steering wheel tighter,  
"I figured it out, but we have to be quick, I don't know how much longer Kali can fight for." The slayer's face set to the road.  
"You figured out the prophecy?" Willow found it hard to hide her shock.  
Kennedy pulled over, causing the car to swerve a lot and Willow to scream a lot.  
"Is that such a shock to you?" Kennedy practically spat the words.  
"No, not at all it's just…" Willow knew she had hurt her.  
"It's just you didn't think I was capable of doing anything but killing." The brunette practically snapped off the gear stick as she set off again.

Willow decided to keep quiet, as Kennedy drove like a person possessed, weaving in and out of traffic on the highway. She called Giles on her cell phone, "Giles I can't wait another day, I have to sign those papers today, I'm coming to L.A."  
"We're going to L.A.?" The redhead just stared at Kennedy, thinking she may finally have lost her marbles.  
Kennedy decided not to talk to her, feeling she would calm down a lot faster if she didn't speak to her for the rest of their journey.

With the slayers driving, not only was it lucky that they didn't get stopped by cops, but they were also lucky to make it to L.A. in one piece. Upon arrival, Kennedy called Giles and arranged to meet him at Angel's hotel, before getting out of the car, she spoke to Willow, "I'm sorry I drove so fast, I'm just worried, and well, I'm sorry I yelled, it's just all you guys have been researching so hard and I couldn't help, I don't even understand half the stuff in those books, but I just know I have the answer, try not to be so damn shocked." She went to get out of the car, but Willow stopped her, "No, I'm sorry, I always seem to underestimate you, and I don't care if you understand the books, I love you anyway, okay?" The slayer nodded, and they both got out of the car and went to walk through the glass doors of the hotel, hand in hand.

Angel saw them but only smiled a little, in his usual moody way, Giles met Willow with a hug and then shook Kennedy's hand, having had little or nothing to do with her for the past seven years. "I have the papers, shall we?" He signalled towards a conference room, they went inside and he followed them, putting down his briefcase, opening it up and taking out a pen and a stack of papers.

"Sign next to all the crosses, you can only be a 'slayerette' after this, I can't get Willow to give you the powers back." Giles said firmly.  
"I know." Kennedy said, beginning to sign, "Will, do the spell."  
Willow began to chant; even Kennedy knew how easy it was to rid someone of power as comparing to giving them it. She carried on signing the pages, cross after cross, but she noticed her arm getting tired, she was becoming tired, she was still strong, but not like before, and she still had stamina but it wasn't like she was used to, she finished signing the last one, and rubbed her wrist. "It worked." She said, pouting.

They both thanked Giles but in the car on the way home Willow said, "How did you ridding yourself of slayer power help Kali?" she was a little annoyed if it had nothing to do with it, seeing as she had dragged her all the way out here under false pretenses. "Shit I forgot." She pulled over onto the shoulder and took out the tea she had brought with her, "You have to drink this." She gave her the tea and Willow smelled it.  
"I can't drink that!" the redhead looked at it wide-eyed, "You know what will happen if I do."  
"Yeah, you stop being a witch for a while." Kennedy said, "Drink it."  
Willow sighed, this was going to hurt, she drank the tea and even though it was cold it burned her throat, she was more powerful than Kali, and her power had been with her longer, she felt the liquid absorbing her power slowly sucking away at her insides, both of them felt sharp pains in their heads, and shut their eyes, pressing their fingers into the sockets to try and rid themselves of it.

The pain was so intense, both found themselves crying, Willow's tears were bright green, and Kennedy's, blood red, but not blood. The pain in their heads subsided, but Willow felt a sharp pain in her stomach before falling into a deep sleep.

"Holy shit!" Kennedy yelled as she saw Willow's head fall onto the window as she slept, her waters breaking all over the black leather seats, she rammed the car into first gear and took off towards the nearest hospital her Sat-Nav could find, she called Emma and Tiv on the way there.

Emma and Tiv had been finishing the jigsaw with Kali when they had seen her eyes glowing greener than usual, Tiv fearing she was going to turn again had started to get up t make some more tea, but Kali stopped her, "They did it." She said simply,  
"Did what?" The blonde woman asked.  
"Stopped it, Mum stopped the prophecy." Kali smiled.  
"How?" Emma asked her brow furrowing slightly.  
"If I knew that I could have stopped it myself." Kali looked at Emma like she was stupid.  
"Oh." Was all that she could say in return.

Upon receiving the phone call they had been getting ready for work and Buffy was sat talking to Kali about how dangerous crossbows are, not only to vampires but to humans too. Emma answered and then told Kennedy that the idea had worked and Kali was okay again, but upon hearing about Willow, the smile left her face and she hung up, whispering in Buffy's ear 'Will's in labour' the slayer looked puzzled, "But she's only six months gone!" Emma nodded, "Kennedy's taking her to the Kaiser Foundation Hospital in L.A. could you take Kali there? Me and Tiv are gonna get fired if we are late or have any more time off." Buffy nodded, and sent Kali upstairs to change again.

The ex-slayer had trouble getting Willow out of the car and into the hospital, having ten times less strength than before. Willow was fully out of it and Kennedy was worried sick as she carried her through the doors of the hospital. She shouted for help and it came, they put Willow on the bed and listened to Kennedy explain what had happened, "She passed out in the car, but her waters broke, so I brought her in, she's only six months." The brunette was crying and she had a stabbing pain in her stomach.

The doctors rushed Willow away and she watched before heading towards the toilet, her stomach was in so much pain she sat on the closed toilet seat and curled up, she squeezed her eyes shut tight and gasped as she felt her shirt getting tighter and tighter, some of the buttons popped off and Kennedy opened her eyes to look, she looked more pregnant than Willow had looked upon being rushed away. She had noticed a shop on her way in, and went back to buy a tee-shirt to cover her swollen belly, upon returning a nurse confronted her "Are you a relative?" she asked taking notes.  
"She's only my wife!" Kennedy said, tears re-forming in her eyes.  
"Oh," She made notes on her clipboard and asked a lot of questions about Willow before she was told what was happening.  
"She's out cold, but her body is in labour, so we are going to give her a c-section, but it needs consent." Kennedy knew this was going to happen, but she hadn't known it would be so soon, she signed the form and was told to put on a gown and come into the white room.

Willow was hooked up to machines that hummed and beeped, she had a mask over her face and a sheet up around her middle, "She's out cold, so we only gave her an anaesthetic that would numb her up, we can't risk putting her fully under." Kennedy nodded, trying to take it all in. They allowed her over to the table and she held Willow's limp hand, biting her lip.

The room was bright white and Kennedy felt sure they had been there for hours as the masked medics ran around with their knives and talked a load of jargon that the brunette didn't understand, it seemed forever had passed before she felt Willow squeeze her hand, she looked down to see her awake enough to understand what was going on, she had one hand on her belly, the other holding Willow's hand and she was biting her lip.

She looked over at the door and Kali was stood looking through the glass in it as Buffy had her hand on her shoulder. She gave a weak smile, just as the doctor lifted the tiny body out of the redhead. A nurse bustled into the far corner and began prodding and probing away. Eventually after what appeared an age, a baby's cry filled the room, Kennedy breathed a sigh of relief, but as the nurse announced "It's a boy." And handed the bundle to Kennedy, Willow's eyes shut again.

Kennedy had barely had chance to look at her son before the nurse took him away to be put into intensive care, Kennedy watched, as the doctors struggled to figure out what was wrong with Willow, and was ushered from the room. Outside Buffy pulled the brunette into a hug that Kali joined in on, all of them were crying. "Your belly Mum." Kali gasped upon noticing it, even Buffy raised an eyebrow as she looked her up and down. Kennedy shrugged, "I have no idea, but I can bet it has something to do with the magicks again." Both just nodded.

Hours later Willow was wheeled out in front of them, paler than usual, "They are taking her to recovery, you can wait with her until she wakes up if you want, or you can go and visit your son first, she won't be awake for a while." A nurse looked pityingly at the ex-slayer as she said the words. Kennedy nodded, "Show me where he is." Buffy and Kali followed Kennedy, who was following the nurse, to intensive care, where the baby boy lay in an incubator with wires and machines hooked up, he was wearing a little hat and just a nappy, "Won't he get cold?" Kali asked the nurse upon seeing him.  
"No, that's why he's in the special box." She said.

All three stood watching the tiny body as his chest rose and fell with his breathing and Kennedy seemed to flinch every time the monitor bleeped his heart rate. Kali was the first to place her hand on the plastic box, Kennedy bent down to her level as she kissed her on the head, "Me and your Mamma were talking and we think that you should name him." She said softly as Kali's big green eyes looked into her brown ones.  
"Really?" she asked, excited, Kennedy nodded.  
"But you have to think about it carefully, a name gives strength or weakness." She said seriously.  
"I'll find a good name Mum." Kali grinned, pleased to be given such a high responsibility.

The redhead was just waking up when they entered the room, she shifted and then winced in pain, "What-" she didn't get to finish her sentence as Kennedy started to explain about their son, and about her stomach expanding at a rapid pace.  
"Oh, that'll be the exchange." Willow said, smiling as though everyone was going to understand.  
"The what?" Kennedy let her know that she was again talking to the 'stupid' in 'I'm with stupid'.  
"Oh, because the baby was born early, and they were both connected, the time that was remaining for me to carry him, will have passed to you, so you are around three months pregnant." Willow smiled again.  
"Mum, you're gonna have a baby too?" Kali looked at her Mum wide-eyed as she nodded.

After Buffy had taken Kali back home, Kennedy sat in the chair by Willow's bed, "Why did that break the prophecy?" Willow was confused.  
"Kali was the spawn of witch and slayer right?" Kennedy prompted.  
"Yeah…" Willow was still confused.  
"But she wasn't when I stopped being a slayer, and you drank St. John's Wort." Kennedy was rather pleased it had worked.  
"But, our son, he is neither son of witch or slayer, his power is going to be nil." Willow understood why the prophecy had been broken, but she was worried that without the power of them both, he wasn't going to make it.  
"The prophecy said he was gonna be smart, not strong, not 'til he does something to earn power, the prophecy said he will live, and he will live." Kennedy nodded, not sure if she was trying to convince Will or herself more.

Willow was tired, and so was Kennedy and they both fell asleep not long after finishing their conversation. The ex-slayer had a fitful sleep until she jolted awake, her eyes wide in the darkness, "Oh my God! El!" And started to run towards the reception pay-phones.

Dawn was sat watching El medicated up when it happened, the mousy haired girl had been talking thickly through her meds as usual about people being out to kill her while picking at the bleeding skin around her fingernails, when her eyes went white and she fell back on the bed, fitting.

Dawn was going to call someone, but she knew they wouldn't know what to do, "Oh God, please." She said to no one. El continued to fit, her eyes slowly gaining a pupil and an iris again, grey, as they had used to be, her skin paled and her fitting slowed, she began to cry.  
"Mommy what am I doing here, weren't we at Willow's?" Dawn almost cried as she hugged her daughter, they had done it, she didn't know how, and she didn't really care, but they had done it.

After much arguing and an awful lot of fuss, the doctors concluded El was back to how she was before. Dawn smiled as she gripped the small girls hand and they got in the car to go home.

It was close to midnight when Kennedy called the Summer's house, where Dawn and El were still living. "Hello?" The brunette heard Dawn's voice and knew she had woken her.  
"We broke the prophecy, you should go get El." Kennedy said rather rushed.  
"She's asleep in her room." Dawn beamed but Kennedy couldn't see it.  
"Oh, right, sorry, you can go back to sleep then." Kennedy said.  
"Okay..." Dawn was going to put the phone down, but she stopped, "Kenn?"  
"Yeah?"  
"Thanks"  
"No problem." They both hung up and Kennedy went and collapsed back in her chair, Dawn pulled the covers back over her head and fell asleep again.

The morning light streamed through the hospital blinds as Willow shifted in her half sleep. Kennedy opened one eye and saw the redhead waking, she opened the other eye. "I have to see him." Was all Willow could say. She looked a whole lot better than yesterday and Kennedy figured that it was due to the tea wearing off.   
"I can only ask." The brunette went to find a nurse.

"He's so tiny." Willow gasped as she touched the plastic box.  
"He's weak, but he's functioning as though he had gone full term." One of the nurses in the background commented, the redhead nodded as she sat in the wheelchair, Kennedy squeezed her shoulder.  
"He's gonna be great." Kennedy beamed, "He's gonna be a god."  
"We should name him," Willow said, "I was thinking of naming him Michael."  
Kennedy paused for thought before answering, "I told Kali she could name him, like we said."  
"Well a middle name then." The witch smiled, as she saw the baby boy move and open his eyes to smile at her in his incubator.

The dark haired six year old skidded down the corridor to intensive care waving a piece of paper around, Kennedy saw her and bent down to pick her up, realising that she was now heavy, due to lack of strength, she struggled a little at first, but nevertheless she held her in her arms, "I got it!" the little girl said, excitedly into her Mum's ear.  
"Got what?" Kennedy was bewildered.  
"A name of cause!" she grinned.  
"Oh, right, go on then."  
"Kaden!" Kali said, still excited.  
"Kaden?" Willow repeated, mulling the name over in her head.  
"Yeah, Kaden." Kennedy smiled with thought.  
"Really, you like it?" The little girl grinned from eat to ear.  
Both women nodded, as an exasperated couple entered the ward breathing heavily.  
"That…Child…Runs…Too…Fast…" Emma said as she sat down, Tiv nodded and then collapsed in a chair beside her. They all sat talking, and occasionally looking to watch over the newborn Kaden Michael Prescott.


End file.
